Silver Lake -- Doto – as is true of so many mildly eccentric restaurants on the Eastside – sits neither here nor there. It’s on Hoover just off where Melrose comes to an end, on a street that’s at the cusp of residential and industrial. It has a name that could refer to a sea nymph or perhaps a type of mollusk – but most likely is the Japanese word meaning “suddenly” or “at once.” Whatever the meaning, Doto is a joy to happen upon – an exercise in culinary passion by Jared Joe Dowling, chef of the far more upscale Edgemar in Santa Monica.

They’re like two sides of his personality, from a chef who’s quoted as saying, “The real reason we open restaurants is to build amazing families of people that we have the pleasure of spending our days with.” And in the case of Doto, that family is lo

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